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Plus4 World GameBase

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Neo-Rio
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:25 am

Hi there,

Great work on the C16/Plus 4 collection!

I am currently trying to insert all of the prg files into t64s. This is mainly because VICE in particular can be a bit fussy when loading prg files directly from a native filesystem.

I am also doing it to be able to play all the games on PSPVicePlus4, because I'd like the experience to be as good as it is on the PSP with Vice64
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.mad.
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Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:03 am

Glad you like it. :D

if you keep the same filenames apart from the extension of course.
i will change to the database file so you can play your T64 files from the Gamebase front end as well.
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Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:51 am

There's a fair bit of effort involved converting the PRGs to T64s (as I am finding out). Love your work so far though.

I'll share my work when I'm done with this so it doesn't have to be duplicated. Will let you know when I'm done. I'm trying to script as much of it as possible, so it shouldn't take THAT long, but there is a lot of manual work that needs doing too.

Also, I have another game to add to it (a type in from computer gamer)

I'm also going to attempt to find a cruncher/compactor for the plus4 that I can use to hopefully compress some of these game with sys start calls - in order that they execute with a simple RUN command.

Also, there are some hacks and non-working programs I am finding - so there will be a bit of culling going on too. All in all, I think I will be able to come up with a decent set of games by the end of this.
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Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:52 pm

Neo-Rio wrote:I'm also going to attempt to find a cruncher/compactor for the plus4 that I can use to hopefully compress some of these game with sys start calls - in order that they execute with a simple RUN command.
I've used the commandline cross-packer pucrunch for compressing c64 trainers, it's got a c16/plus4 exe packing option too - maybe worth a go.

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Dev/pucrunch/#Progs
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:52 am

That's actually what I'm using. It works for the plus 4 too.
So far, I've managed to compress all the SYS started programs.

There's two games that don't seem to work in PUCRUNCH though.
"Crazy Worm" and "Wall break"
They actually execute, but with lots of flashing yellow text in VICE, and the game doesn't function.

Wall break I can eventually crunch with cruel cruncher 4 under the plus/4

Crazy worm didn't even work with that, so I am trying other approaches.

I've sent both programs to the PUcrunch author in the hope that he may know why they aren't working in PUcrunch. The interesting thing is that he is still playing around with PU crunch (see his recent activity) even after all these years. If he finds something and fixes it, I'll feel inclined to recrunch some of these games, but I am only holding back on crunching more because of this issue.

All in all, there is a lot of work to do with all the files that .mad. has posted (I noticed that most of them are from c64.rules ftp) in order to make a nice collection of C16/plus4 games for its own Gamebase. There are doubles, bad versions, sys starters, uncrunched games, and D64s that don't need to be (bootstrapped sys starters with BASIC loader program). Half the fun will be just organizing T64s and removing duplicates.... so far I am through with the # and A lists. Currently on B.

I am just trying to organise things into proper T64/D64 filenames a bit first before I really go to town on crunching and testing programs further and selecting best versions. That can wait for a version 2, although I'll try and get it all right the first time.
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plus 4

Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:19 pm

i did indeed get all the files from c64 rulez and plus4 world. :wink:
i just created links for all versions of each game i could find.
This makes it easier to sort all the duplicated games,
and find the best near as 100% version of each.
As i found some games work on one emulator, but not on another.
so i decided to keep them all as there arn't that many games freely available.

It seems like your putting some serious time into this.
if you would like to take over the whole project.
it's yours. 8)

just post any updates here please.
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Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:20 pm

Neo-Rio wrote:That's actually what I'm using. It works for the plus 4 too.
So far, I've managed to compress all the SYS started programs.

If it's similar to the the C64 it's possible to RUN a basic prg with a few jsr/jmps. Looking at the plus4 disassembly I can get a simple basic program with a line 0 (even just 0 REM) to start with a G 8BC4 in the VICE monitor. That may work in pucrunch as the execute address as long as you have a line 0 and pucrunch doesn't mess with the registers?
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Re: plus 4

Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:29 am

.mad. wrote: As i found some games work on one emulator, but not on another.
so i decided to keep them all as there arn't that many games freely available.

just post any updates here please.
Yes, I'm not sure how good VICE plus4 is against YAPE. There are some games which seem to have scrolling issues under VICEplus4 - and I don't know much about YAPE. I will keep this in mind

As for updates... I'll set up an SFTP at some point, and when things get done I'll probably set up something on underground-gamer
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Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:13 am

Just an update. Pasi is looking at the PUcrunch source code to see why Crazy Worms and Wall Break won't crunch correctly. Had something to do with the plus4 color pallette, but he's debugging it. Who knows? There may be a newer version of pucrunch soon.

In the emantime, I am still trying to work myself through the B collection and set up an sftp
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Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:49 pm

.Mad...

Excellent database..Great work.

Missing these games from the database tho, got all the files you put up and they are not accidentally elsewhere ie wrong directory.

Any chance of posting them please..

sdf-d64\ACES_UP.D64 45 Aces Up
sdf-d64\BAKERS_GAME.D64 204 Baker
sdf-d64\BARONESS.D64 225 Baroness
sdf-d64\BISLEY.D64 281 Bisley
sdf-d64\BOOMERANG.D64 355 Boomerang
sdf-d64\BOOMERANG_V3.D64 356 Boomerang V3
sdf-d64\CANFIELD.D64 431 Canfield
sdf-d64\CASTLE.D64 451 Castle
sdf-d64\CHAMELEON.D64 479 Chameleon
sdf-d64\COLLINS.D64 532 Collins
sdf-d64\DOUBLE_DECK_DUO.D64 767 Double Deck
sdf-d64\DOUBLE_OR_QUITS.D64 769 Double Or Nothing
sdf-d64\EIGHTS.D64 814 Eights
sdf-d64\EUCHRE.D64 860 Euchre
sdf-d64\FOURTEEN.D64 977 Fourteens
sdf-d64\FREE-CELL.D64 983 Free Cell
sdf-d64\FROG.D64 989 Frog
sdf-d64\GOLF_(SOLITAIRE).D64 1076 Golf
sdf-d64\GOOD_NEIGHBOURS.D64 1082 Good Neighbors
sdf-d64\keyboard_cribbage.D64 1398 Keyboard Cribbage
sdf-d64\KLONDIKE.D64 1453 Klondike
sdf-d64\MICHAELS_PUZZLES.D64 1734 Michaels Puzzles
sdf-d64\MY_MULE.D64 1815 Mule
sdf-d64\OSMOSIS.D64 1916 Osmosis
sdf-d64\OUR_OWN_KLONDIKE.D64 1924 Our Own Klondike
sdf-d64\PROPELLER.D64 2087 Propeller
sdf-d64\QUEENS.D64 2134 Queens
sdf-d64\SNAKE.D64 2395 Snake
sdf-d64\SPIDER.D64 2465 Spider
sdf-d64\STORE.D64 2543 Storehouse
sdf-d64\STRATEGY.D64 2558 Strategy
sdf-d64\SUDDEN_DEATH.D64 2573 Sudden Death
sdf-d64\SULTAN.D64 2579 Sultan Of Turkey
sdf-d64\THIRTEENS.D64 2710 Thirteens
sdf-d64\TOUGH_TENS.D64 2773 Tough Tens
sdf-d64\WAYNES_GAME.D64 2970 Waynes Game
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.mad.
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Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:06 pm

Hi Paul,

These games are in the Gamebase. :wink:

you need to search for
Copyright = "A Maurice Jones Solitare"
Game Genere = "Gambling Cards"

The SDF files you mention are archived disks.
(like a ZIP/LNX state)
they have been Unarchived and put back to D64 format.
and added to the Gamebase like that.
They will not play from the Gamebase menu as SDF files.

Thanks all the same. :D
if you know of any other missing games?
please don't hesitate to mention them.
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Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:51 pm

.mad. wrote:Hi Paul,

These games are in the Gamebase. :wink:

you need to search for
Copyright = "A Maurice Jones Solitare"
Game Genere = "Gambling Cards"

The SDF files you mention are archived disks.
(like a ZIP/LNX state)
they have been Unarchived and put back to D64 format.
and added to the Gamebase like that.
They will not play from the Gamebase menu as SDF files.

Thanks all the same. :D
if you know of any other missing games?
please don't hesitate to mention them.
Thanks .Mad...

Found them today but didn't realise they were ALL card games so left them.

Thanks for the reply and the great work!
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Fri Aug 01, 2008 2:55 am

The plus/4 emulator YAPE seems to be a bit recalcitrant when it comes to handling T64s (i.e. they don't work), so I have contacted the authro to figure out the problem.

T64 support would at least then give a T64 based game collection some credence, because then it wouldn't only just work with VICE easily, but with YAPE too (which seems to be the better emulator)
Barbarian3 doesn't work in VICE 2.0 xplus4 - for example.

I'm nearly done with B, and now moving onto C
Still trying to get that SFTP up and running....
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Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:28 pm

I believe T64 is a bit of a rubbish format in all fairness. It's just that lots of C64 stuff used it because it was the preferred format of C64S. I'm surprised that any plus4 emulator supports it as I wouldn't have thought there was any historical reason to. I know GB64 uses just T64s or D64s, it should just be D64/prgs but there's really no need to change it because pretty much all C64 emulators support T64s in some shape or form which is why T64 files remain a GB64 mainstay.

The only C64 emulator without T64 support was MESS, but I added some simple T64 support about a year or so ago so at least single file T64s will work fine. Unfortunately not all GB64 T64s are single file images - really any T64 with more than one image in them should be a D64 (but for the work involved it won't be worth the hassle).

If one of the main plus4 emulators doesn't support T64s then perhaps it would be better to do them all as D64s or a mixture of D64/prgs before the T64 path is taken too far?
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Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:06 am

Personally I would prefer using D64s for everything, but D64s simply have greater overhead compared to T64.

Secondly, T64 support is generally a whole lot better than PRG support on many emulators! (I discovered how to get T64s on YAPE going - has something to do with a disk drive plugin).
You end up with filenames too big for themselves in PRG format with a bunch of illegible characters, if not done correctly. T64s simply cleans that mess up.

Thirdly, GB64 already does T64s this way - so I'm doing it like this too

Fourthly - the current set of C16/plus4 games are full of hacks, bad dumps, sys programs, multiple versions, subdirectories with readmes, uncrunched games etc... it's a bit of a mess. Doing things this way will at least give the collection a snese of organisation.

Lastly - PSPVICE plus4 can't handle prgs well - at least in context of having mass zip files per letter as it has done for GB64. I'm mainly doing this for that project but everyone will get to see some of the benefits I'm sure.

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